Friday, April 29, 2011

Masterclass


For our anniversary (was in February) DJ and I decided to do a cooking class while on holiday. 


So on Sunday we headed off to our Pasta making class. We learnt how to mix and knead the dough, and then put it through the pasta machine. This was not as easy as it seemed, definitely a two person job when making spaghetti! 


Me mixing up the flour and Semolina,


My Spaghetti and Fettuccine


DJ about to sneak a bit of pasta into his mouth!


My wild mushroom and bacon fettuccine (no cream)


DJ's much better looking creamy pasta.


Scoffing it down!



My Napoli Sauce with Spaghetti


DJ's mix of Napoli.

***
We had so much fun that we went back the next day and did knife handling. 


Trying to learn how to cut Julienne and Brunoise. I had a lot of trouble trying to hold my fingers in the claw hold when I'm use to holding it with my fingers flat.




Tomato roses.



My headless apple swan.

We now can't wait to get home and get a pasta machine and some good sharp knifes! We are hoping to come back later in the year and do some more classes, Indian anyone? 

Thursday, April 28, 2011

My Creative Space


Not a lot of sewing happening around here. Down at the holiday house and the sewing machine hasn't actually made it out of the car yet(has more to do with a sore back than not wanting to sew). I'm starting to plan out my quilt for the Naked Bed Challenge using the above vintage sheets (what's better to cover a naked bed with than vintage sheets?) but freaking out a little about cutting into them and not actually having a pattern to follow. I've decided to make up my own pattern which I have done before but this one is a bit more complex than what I've done before.
Fingers crossed it works!

For more creative spaces.

Ps. First blog post from the iPad so hopefully it works! (Shhhh, I'm actually sitting at a winery in the sun writing this)

Monday, April 18, 2011

Easter Chickens

Although I tried my hardest to coax Karen's chickens into my tin at NCB,


They just wouldn't come home with me.

Photos taken by Beccasauras
That meant I just had to make some of my own using this pattern.

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and Tada!

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This little one has gone off to live with a girl who promptly named him "Nugget".


Off to make some of my own with these gorgeous felts.

My Birthday Weekend (Otherwise known as the weekend when I got spoilt rotten!)

I had a lovely birthday weekend, breakfast and presents in bed. No DJ didn't get me anything of my list but what I did get was so much better (and pink!).


An iPad! I am totally in love with it, it comes everywhere in my handbag. I have been taking it to bed to twitter at night or read my blogs and even better I can blog from it unlike my iPhone. Just need to make a cover for it or convince someone to make one for me! My parents got me some beautiful clothes, quilt pattern and very cute babushka headphones that I forgot to take a picture of. DJ's mum made me the beautiful table runner that everything is resting on, and got me Nikki's book and another babushka. My grandma made me the gorgeous card on the right.

I also woke up to lots of birthday twitter love from the girls.

DJ was a very very good boyfriend and went to AQC with my mum, aunty and I. Although I did have to drag him away from the quilting machines, he was obsessed with how they worked! 


I then got to go Ice Skating! It was so much fun, and I even managed not to fall down. DJ did think it was very funny to hold my hand and skate as fast as he could while I'm trying my hardest not to fall over. 

I had a wonderful dinner of Thai takeaway with my family and boy for dinner, and of course cake.

On Sunday I was feeling a little sad that it was all over, but DJ had news for me. 


He took me for drive along Beach Road, we had lunch in Sandringham and went for a lovely walk along the beach. The weather was fantastic and I could have fallen asleep on the glass had I been allowed to!

But no we had to get home because he had arranged one last surprise for me. 


Can you guess where?
He had arranged dinner at Sky High on top of Mount Dandenong with friends!
The food was fantastic (spiced salmon on top of warm Japanese salad, yum) and the view was even better!


Thank you DJ for a wonderful birthday weekend.
(Best Boyfriend ever!)

Monday, April 11, 2011

Flea Market Finds...

This will be a monster Flea Market Finds post as I haven't done one is ages. 
I have kept it to one Find as a have Opped a lot recently and don't want this post to get too long!

Not something I bought but this is the old kitchen out where my Grandparents lived in the country. Really wanted to bring it home, DJ was not impressed!

Vintage sheets from a little Op / Vintage Shop where my Grandparents live. It is a tiny little town about five hours from Melbourne but they have the best Op Shop. 

This is a picture of said Op Shop, DJ is glad we didn'y walk away with the whole shop,although he did like this bar selection. I can see 100 things in this photo I wish I had of bought!

More goodies that I did come home with, scraps of bias binding and some wooden spools,

This gorgeous top, love the lace and it's so comfy to wear, 

And this top as well, haven't had a chance to wear it yet but love the look of it.

 Much to DJ's delight I did not come home with this dress!

I'm still behind with my Flea Market Finds but don't want to make this too big of a post so I will leave it here for this week. 
For more gorgeous finds.